Kitchen Notes

Spring is officially here, and I [Chef Becky, here] am over the moon about it! Ask any chef and they'll be quick to tell you, this is the most exciting time of the year for fresh produce, bright flavors, and lighter fare. After a long winter, it's nice to lighten up a bit, and get to the farmers market!

For many of you that didn't know, I am honored to be a part of a wonderful company called CHEF'd which is the first and only online meal store! Shop and browse through hundreds of amazing professional chefs' recipes, pick one you like, and all the ingredients and directions will be shipped straight to your door! All the ingredients are super fresh, perfectly packaged and pre-portioned! It is hands down, the easiest way to prepare chef created meals in your own home.

...and one of my recipes is on the list! My meal: Seared Ahi Tuna with miso tahini slaw. This meal is seriously delicious-- if I don't say so myself :) It combines a bright and umami-rich fresh veggie slaw, with tangy charred green beans and a delicious seared ahi tuna steak. This meal is packed with bold flavors, it's satisfying, filling, and to top it off, it's incredibly lean and healthy! You'd never even know, and believe me, my primary goal is never to make diet food-- It's to make delicious food, healthfully! Check out this meal and place you order today! CHEF'd ships out each order super fast, and once it arrives, it won't be long until you're cooking like a rockstar! Trust me, I have tested this recipe myself (several times), in fact I just made it for dinner yesterday! Even timing myself, start to finish, it clocked in under an hour.

Quick tip: If you make this meal and don't eat it all right away, its keeps very well. It's delicious the next day, cold. I just mixed up the seared chilled tuna with the leftover beans and slaw (which you'll have lots of extra anyway) for one delish lunch salad.

Elegant table settings can be as simple as fresh fruit & backyard sprigs

Lets face it, the holiday season is a double edged sword... Yes, its beautiful, and festive, and merry and all that, but more often than not, these positive feelings are inevitably bogged down by feelings of pressure, stress, family woes, stress, obligations and stress... You know what I'm talking about? It breaks my heart... the holidays are all about embracing the merry season, having FUN, cheesy [or classy] decor, the shopping, the music, the FOOD... So it stinks when I see people stressing out, but I always explain, the simple trick planning. Planning!! That's it! Just make a little extra effort to work ahead of yourself. This is especially easy and true in the FOOD department, my favorite part!

I have a few little tips (and recipes) for making the most out of the holidays around the dinner table, or buffet, or hors d'oeuvres spread!

#1 Peek in the pantry

First things first, when it come to planning your holiday entertaining feasts, scope out your pantry inventory. This may seem obvious, but more often than not, people will overspend on ingredients and buy entirely new stocks of food, when they may already have 90% of these items already on hand. Ask yourself, "What do I have a lot of?" Rice? Pasta? Bread, stored away in the deep dark depths of your freezer... Think about canapés, or bruschetta, topped with roasted seasonal squash and apples, drizzled with honey. Or if rice is in high stocks: Arancini! Italian rice balls are delicious little hors d'oeuvres, which can be made with any combo of sautéed veggies, melty cheese and herbs. Pasta is always a crowd-pleaser, I love serving a big platter of pasta carbonara.

Wild mushrooms

If fresh wild mushrooms are unavailable, use dried mixed mushrooms! Simply hydrate by submerging in boiling water for a few minutes. Remove pot from the heat and let sit for an hour, then drain, and use as directed in the recipe.

Fall bruschetta

A couple great combos for grilled bread:

-1- Pear, goat cheese, sauteed celeriac and thyme

-2- Roasted kabocha squash, pomegranete, honey, fried sage

Carbonara pasta

I you're feeling especially glitzy, finish the pasta with shaved black truffle, for a truly decadent and delicious experience

For a stunning presentation, I place raw organic egg yolks sitting atop mounds of steaming guanciale-laden noodles, ready to be stirred into the pasta, creating a velvety, umami-rich sauce.

In medium pot, combine the rice, water and salt and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot and let the rice cook for 12 minutes, or until the water is absorbed. When done, spread rice out on a baking sheet. Use a rubber spatula to move the rice around, allowing the steam to escape and the rice to cool. If the rice gets a little overcooked, that's okay, in fact it will make for better arancini!

Heat a large sauce pan over medium-high heat, add extra virgin olives oil. While skillet is heating, quickly rinse mushrooms, and dry. Mince shallot, and rough chop the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms, shallot, and thyme to the hot pan. Sauté for 3 minutes shaking once or twice, to get even deep caramelization on all sides of mushrooms. Add the grated garlic and cook another 30 seconds-1 minute, watching not to burn the garlic. De-glaze with vinegar, stir, and remove from the heat. Remove the thyme, and pour into a large mixing bowl. Add to the mixing bowl the egg yolks, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, chopped parsley, and the cooled rice. Use a rubber spatula to incorporate these ingredients. It will be very sticky. Separately, place the bread crumbs in a medium bowl.

In a 4-quart pot, heat the oil to 350 F, verifying the temperature with a candy thermometer. Set up the sheet tray next to a bowl, with the cubed fontina cheese and the bowl of bread crumbs. Use a 2-ounce ice cream scoop to portion out the rice. Roll 1 scoop in wet hands to shape it into a ball. Push two cubes of fontina cheese into the center of the ball. Reshape the rice to close the ball around the cheese. Coat each ball with bread crumbs and set on the sheet tray until ready to fry. Fry 4 or 5 rice balls at a time for 2 to 3 minutes, until they’re golden brown. Remove from oil using a slotted spoon and set to drain on a paper towel-lined tray. Serve with your favorite marinara sauce, or sour cream, mixed with a little sherry vinegar.

#2 Cheeseboards are a hosts best friend

Cheeseboards are the ultimate double duty dish-- they work beautifully for a starter/first course, and an elegant ending to a meal with or without a sweet accompaniment. One of the best, and easiest , ways to be conscious while entertaining, is to simply use local cheeses! A few favorites, from nearby local California creameries are:

-1- Humboldt Fog, from Cypress Grove Chevre— A classic in and of itself, this delicious piquant, creamy goat cheese works well by itself, or paired with a little honey and fig jam.

-4- Last but not least, Mt. Tam, from Cowgirl Creamery. This classic California cheese, named after the majestic Mt. Tamalpais, is an earthy, buttery, triple cream, made from California Straus cows milk.

So now you’ve got the cheese selection down, what about add-ons? As for accompaniments, simply visit your local farmers market! In the fall, honey crisp apples and a few varieties of pears are perfect. Add in some marcona almonds, a seasonal fig preserve from a family owned business, or a fair-trade honey like this one and you're in business.

Presentation seals the deal: use an heirloom cutting board, or even a big slab of slate scrap from a nearby home improvement store for an inexpensive but stunning presentation of your deliciously curated board!

#3 Send guests away with a little something for later

One of my favorite elements of dining at high end restaurants, is the take away treat. Many 5 star restaurants will send you away with a small delicately wrapped foodie gift for 'breakfast' the next day. I love that element of thoughtfulness, its the ultimate sign of real hospitality: meeting and exceeding your guests expectations, by anticipating their wants or needs. Not to mention, it's always a surprise! At Bang Bang Brunch, we employ this same idea and present each of our brunch guests with a take-away pastry for their breakfast (or late night snack) the next day.

To do this in your own home: Once your evening has come to a close, present each guest with a small paper bag, or box with a baked chocolate banana muffin, or salted chocolate chip cookies. Even a little satchel with marshmallows and cocoa and sugar (for a diy hot chocolate) is a lovely and heart-warming gesture. The treat doesn't have to be elaborate, it's a sign of thankfulness and a warm farewell.

If I have learned nothing about food since living in Los Angeles, one thing I know for certain is that whatever your cooking style, it does not have to fit into a neat little well-labeled box. Italian, southern, puerto rican, whatever. I mix and match flavors, cuisines, regional ingredients and techniques-- until I find a combination which is both unique and darn delicious. I encourage you to do the same.Fear not naysayers or critics, proclaiming the bastardization of classic dishes through the increasingly popular trend of multi-culti cookery. Why not blend components from multiple international cuisines? Who writes this rule book, anyway? Ah, that’s right, no one. So the next time someone turns their nose up at the idea of combining Italian and Japanese cuisine, or in this case, Korean and Mexican... Shove a bulgogi taco in their mouth and tell them to take a hike.I thought I might share a recipe with you today. My Kimchi Pork Tostadas... This is one of my favorite indulgent snacks. A love child of Korean and Mexican roots. Latin and Asian cuisine have many similarities in style, so swapping out different ingredients isn’t too dangerous, and often times yields a superior product. I like making these tostadas as minis-- they’re great for parties, as appetizers (super bowl, anyone?). Plus, when something is mini, I get slightly fewer awkward glances when I stuff the 6th one into my mouth. I wish I was exaggerating.If you’re feeling squirrelly, don’t bother cutting the tortillas into small rounds, just do king size tostadas and add a sous vide 62 degree poached egg. Because why not add a slutty egg to anything already this far vandalized.

To finish3-4 flour tortillas1 C grated cheddar ( I used pimento cheddar, because I had made it previously, which is delicious, but regular cheddar works greta too)1 avocado, chopped

4-6 oz neutral oilkosher salt to taste

Combine salt and sugar and rub thoroughly over pork. Place in a pan large enough to hold the whole pork shoulder, and cover tightly and refrigerate over night. The next day, wash cure off the pork and pat dry. Cut the pork into 4-5 smaller evenly sized pieces. Setup an immersion circulator ( love my Nomiku) in large bath of water, set temp to 75 degrees celsius. Meanwhile as water is coming up to temperature, chop the kimchi into small pieces. Place 2/3 of the kimchi into a large bowl (reserve the other 1/3 of the kimchi for serving later on) and add pork chunks. Toss together. Place the pork/kimchi mixture into vacuum seal bag and remove all air and seal. Cook the pork in the water bath for 12 hours.After the 12 hours, remove pork and let cool. Once cool enough to handle, drain the pork from the liquid/fat and pick the meat apart (like how you would for pulled pork sandwiches). Keep the reserved liquid and store uneaten pork in the liquid in the fridge. This recipe will not use nearly all the pork-- however, its delicious on anything, and will keep for a week in the fridge or indefinitely in the freezer.

Make the salsa by combining the shallot, garlic, ginger, chives, reserved chopped kimchi and pico. Make the Korexican sauce by whisking together all the ingredients until creamy and pour/drizzle-able. Heat 1/2” oil in a sauté pan and heat to medium high. Use a circle cutter or biscuit cutter to punch approximately 3" rounds out of the tortillas and fry them in the hot oil, until crispy (1 minute or so). Drain on paper towels and season with kosher salt. When all tostadas are fried, assemble. To assemble, place a little of the pork on the bottom of each fried tostada round, topped with some kimchi salsa, and cheddar. Using a blow torch (my favorite kitchen tool) or a broiler... torch the cheese to melt it slightly. Finish with some avocado and a drizzle of the korexican sauce.Serve, devour, drink with a Hite beer, repeat.

I cannot stress enough the amount of sheer joy, exhilaration, and adrenaline pumping through my veins right now.

Remember when we were kids, and the community swimming pool was where everyone gathered to socialize, goof off, exude a false, yet cunningly disguised, sense of coolness? The pool was like a trial, a grand stage, where one was given the rare opportunity to sling shot into misguided popularity, and [for at least one day] an invisible crown of pre-teen respect. On the flip side, this was also the place where the tables could so swiftly and abruptly turn. Diminishing otherwise hunky dudes, to harrowing exile-- far from any popular beach towel circles they had ever once laid upon...

The judge for these summer popularity contests? The high dive.

That's right, the infamous, meet-your-maker, no mercy high dive. And don't think that bronzed, perpetually dazed, Wendy Peffercorn-type over there in the lifeguard tower will save you. Oh no, if she has to jump in after you? Death wish, guaranteed. Imminent destruction of any dreams you've ever had of being first in line at the slide, and certainly no inner towel circle for you. The high dive separated the wimps from the leaders. It was your golden ticket to popularity, in other words every 11-year-old's dream.

Getting up on that high dive, the faint sound of laughter and whistles far far below you, the prickly texture beneath your twitchy toes, and the shortness of breath... The realization that you are quite literally standing at the precipice of something magical. The remarkable opportunity to go forward and take the dive, make the jump, face your fears, all under the watchful and possibly scrutinizing eyes of your peers, strangers, friends, competitors... Your heart is in your throat, you feel clammy, heart palpitating, questioning every decision you've ever made, mostly the one wherein you decided to climb that never-ending ladder, leaving the other kids behind you, powered by some inner strength and desire you aren't sure you recognize, yet. But then you begin that walk, reminding yourself, one foot in front of the other, you're been preparing for this your entire 11-year-old adult life, you'll never be more ready--now is the time.

You jump.

Everything else fades and exhilaration pours over your body as you slice into the water. You lay beneath the surface, smiling, eyes open, looking up at the blurry shapes surroundings the deep end peering at you. Before you come up for air, you know in your heart, something life-changing has just happened. The adrenaline, the fear, the love, the anticipation, the unknown, it all falls away as you climb out of water, people surrounding you with questions and admiration. You bask in in the internal knowing that you took a chance, trusted yourself and... succeeded. Shocking yourself.

That is how I feel right now.

Bang Bang is my high dive. It's my everything and my biggest dream. I love it and want it to be something that brings people together and creates a culture of community, passion, and happiness.

Food has always brought people together for me, I want to share that experience with others. Join me.